THANKFUL

THANKFUL FOR

• Indian summer - warm days, cool crisp nights, colourful trees, nature's last hurrah before the snow flies and winter comes.
• my kids - I sometimes look at them and think "I made them?" They are each so unique and yet so the same in ways.  Kind, generous, smart, and in the words of Derek Zoolander "ridiculously good-looking". They didn't even pay me to say that.
• my grandkids - seven already and number eight on the way.  Sweet, cheeky, happy and loving, and always ready to give me a hug and a kiss.  I could not feel more blessed.
• my daughters-in-law - our family was pretty awesome before but now with these three girls it is ridiculously awesome.  I can't begin to tell you how much I love and appreciate them. Two are the mothers to a majority of my grandchildren and they value their roles as nurturers to those special little ones.  
• friends - I have a lot...more than I deserve really... all over the world.  Each friendship is valued, they enrich my life in a way that is impossible to describe.  I am friends with some of the smartest, funniest, and kindest people in the world.  I am sure you fall into one of those categories considering you're reading my blog.
• turkey dinners - turkey is fine but what I really care for is all the trimmings... mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, did I mention mashed potatoes?  mmmmm... my favorite! Bring on the left overs!
• my husband - I lucked out in that department.  He is the reason that our marriage runs so smoothly.  I accuse him of having OCD but in reality I envy the ease in which he organizes and remembers everything (except where utensils belong in the kitchen).  The grandkids adore him.  What more could you want?
• my health - One of life's greatest blessings is good health.  I couldn't be more thankful for that blessing in my life. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  If you haven't already, take a moment to reflect on the things you are thankful for.

SUMMER TIME AND THE LIVING IS BUSY

A little run down of our summer:

• a move (and all that it entails).
• visitors from New Zealand, 4 of them for 7 weeks.
• road trips to Ottawa, Rochester NY,New York City, Washington DC, Orlando, Memphis, and Niagara Falls.
• shopping at every last one of the stops above and some in between as well (apparently the prices in North America are considerably cheaper than in NZ but we had to check just to be sure).
• dinner for 21 most weekends (guess who got to cook?).
• glorious days at the beach (conveniently located in the back yard of our new house).
• campfires (did you know that Kiwis/New Zealanders have never heard of s'mores? What a travesty.).
• a trip to Algonquin Park.
• an announcement (Nathan and Emily are expecting their first child in March of next year YEAH!!!!!).

You can maybe understand why I haven't taken the time to post on my blog although there has been plenty to write about.  Stay tuned for some fun stories about our adventures, there's a few.

 

TWO WEEKS IN

We have been at our new house for two weeks now on and off (we've been doing work at our old house as well).  So far...

• two bedrooms have been painted.
• three trees have been cut down.  I have a sneaking suspicion that the next time I leave town a fourth will fall.  Dear boys, if you touch that maple I am going to be very angry!
• we've been visited by Daniel, Olivia, and Waverlea twice.
• we've had two visitors from North Bay.
• I've hit the garage door post with one of the vehicles.
• Ian's got grease on our white carpet, fortunately I noticed this right away and got it out.  Ian wishes I was as good at noticing the side of the garage door.  
• we have a quarter of the two car garage cleared.
• we've come to the conclusion that we own way too much stuff.
• Olivia introduced herself to our Italian neighbors twice,once when she ran the kayak into their beach and then again when she ran the kayak into their fishing boat.  This all happened within the space of about a minute.  
• I met our Italian neighbors sans bra and in my pajamas.  It was four in the afternoon. (I was painting, don't judge.) We're making quite the impression.
• we've swum in the river every day.  It's not getting old.
• we wage battle with the Canada geese that like to come poop on our lawn every single day.  It is getting old. We're not winning...yet! I think this one is going to get it's own post someday soon. 

THE SCOOP

So I made an announcement today on Facebook and have been flooded with questions ever since which is understandable because it was a pretty big announcement.  So here's the scoop!
The rumours are true, we are moving back to the Muskoka area.  It all happened so fast that my head is still spinning.
When Matthew took his family and moved there a couple of years ago I was disappointed.  I saw his kids almost every day and although they were moving only an hour and a half drive down the road, I knew the time I spent with them would decrease significantly and that saddened me.  While I still get to see them fairly frequently it is mostly just stopping in for a few minutes as we travel through to other places. When Brittany announced earlier this year that she and Ben would be moving there as well with their two kids, I was anxious to make a move south to be closer to all my little grandchildren.
A couple of weeks ago Ian and I discussed  the ramifications of such a move and we determined that we would have a little look at what was available and think about it.  Two weeks later (yesterday) we signed papers to purchase a home and we move in June 26th.  Crazy!!!!!  So much to do in so little time and in between a trip to Hawaii.  I think I will be awol on here for a while as I begin packing and getting this house ready to go on the market.

Things I will miss:

• my friends here.
• our indoor swimming pool.
• an abundance of grocery stores (makes for cheap food).
• the community I live in (seriously the nicest people ever).
• the wildlife I see on daily basis.
• my backyard tobogganing hill (no more toboggan parties on family weekend : (

Looking forward to:

• more family get togethers ( I see a weekly family dinner tradition in the making)
• reconnecting with old friends.
• kayaking on the river.
• meeting my new neighbors.
• spending more time with our grandkids.
• being able to help out my daughter and daughters in law more.

A MONTH IN REVIEW

1. Sandyhook. The reason I haven't written a post in so long.  I just felt so wounded by that event that I couldn't bring myself to write something lighthearted or funny when so many people were suffering so deeply.
2. Christmas.  It was an absolutely great one marred only by the absence of Adam. I haven't written him out of the will...yet.  As I expected, the blow guns Santa put in the guys stockings were the biggest hit of all.
3. Road trips. Nothing beats spending hours in the car with members of your family.  Good laughs and new nicknames. More on that later.
4. Service.  I spent two days in Long Island New York helping clean up from Hurricane Sandy. It was hard physical work but it was just what my soul needed.  The people we helped were just so appreciative that it was worth sleeping in the back of the car (filled with luggage) and on a floor.
5. New friends.  My overnight stay on the hard floor of a church was made more bearable by making some new friends. Thanks to Brynne the floor was cushioned by a mat stolen borrowed from her brother and she set us all straight when Morgan tried to blame her toot on a fly.  I think we laughed about that for an hour.
6. Old friends.  Nathan's best friend in high school is now a tennis pro in South Carolina and we got a chance to visit him on our road trip.  It was so good to see him again even it was for just a half an hour.
7. Florida.  After all that hard work in New York I needed to recuperate in Orlando.  It was great to take a break from winter and enjoy a little warmth and sunshine made more enjoyable by some visitors who decided to make a last minute trip to join us.
8. Hogwarts.  Harry Potter world is all it's cracked up to be. I so enjoyed my very first day at Hogwarts, and got to try some butterbeer in Hogsmeade. 

The whole clan minus Adam.

Target shooting with the blow guns.

The road trip begins.

Nathan & Ramon.

 Sleeping in the back seat.

My bedroom the second night with Brynne & Natalie.

 My stint as part of a demolition crew.

 About to board the train to Hogwarts. 

BUSTED

Brittany was visiting last week with her two little ones and one morning Ava was up before dawn.  Not wanting her to wake anyone (too late really because she'd already woken me up) I brought her downstairs to the basement, turned on the TV, told her to play with some toys, and tried to go back to sleep on the sofa.  She informed me that she wanted breakfast.  I spotted some candy cane oreos left on the bar from the night before and in a weak moment handed one to her.  She was happy while I felt marginally guilty (it was six in the morning, the real guilt wouldn't kick in for another three hours) for feeding a two year old a cookie for breakfast and hoped her mother wouldn't find out.  

After everyone was up and we were about to have breakfast, Ava removed the soother from her mouth and I heard Brittany ask what was around Ava's mouth.  I looked and there were the tell tale signs of black cookie crumbs in the corners.  Busted!  I got a telling off as is only right and apologized.

A couple of minutes later William piped up " You know those Reese's chocolate bars you have downstairs?

"Yes" I replied.

"Well I bought some at the store (he had been playing with an old wallet and pretending to buy various things with a hotel key card he was using as a credit card) and I gave one to Aunty Pretty (Brittany) and guess what... she ATE IT... BEFORE BREAKFAST!!!!!

Busted

5 LITTLE THINGS

1.  My most brilliant, hilariously funny blogposts are written in my head sometime after midnight while waiting to drift off to sleep.  I will actually laugh into my pillow so as to not wake my husband.  By the morning they are forgotten.

2. I am in love with my blender... seriously.  If you knew the delicious goodness of the smoothies that it produces, you would never leave my kitchen.  It can crush a tray of ice cubes  in 3 seconds.  Yep you read that right. 

3.  I own at the very least ten pairs of reading glasses.  On a good day, I can find two.  

4.  I am hearting the Ryan Gosling memes.  This one made me laugh out loud.  You may have to be Mormon to really appreciate the humour.  

5.  I have already purchased Christmas pajamas for all seven of my grandchildren.   If I can talk the men into wearing the pajamas I have planned for them, it's going to be the awesomest family Christmas photo ever... either that or we will show up on awkwardfamilyphotos.com.

SUGAR AND SPICE

From time to time about every two weeks or so I kidnap a grandkid or two for a few days.  Lilah seems to be the one that gets more than her fair share of visits mostly because her older brother and sister are now in school.  It doesn't hurt that I am her favourite person and she most times prefers to be with me than with her own parents.  I sometimes have to bribe her to get her to go home. (This in no way reflects on her parents who are kind and loving with all their children) As I was getting her out of the bath the other night she said "Mirror Nona." (the grandkids all call me Nona)

"Do you want to look in the mirror?" I asked.

"Yes" she replied.

"Who's that pretty girl in the mirror?"  I asked.

"Nona" was her answer.

Oh, she's good.

The very next morning she was up exceptionally early.

"What are you doing up so early little girl?"  I whispered as I took her down to the playroom.

"To see you Nona."she whispered back.

Well played Lilah, well played.

Here she is in her favourite coat and boots.  

CATCHING UP

I am not going to bore you with excuses as to why I have been neglecting my blog for so long but I will give you a glimpse of what has been occupying my time.

Visiting old friends.

William and Maia's first day of school.

 Hosting baby showers and attending some too.

Taking part in a service project.

Maia's 4th Birthday 

(and yes, I made the cake, just don't ask how long it took me.)

Sewing baby stuff for...

  this little beauty who just joined our ever expanding family.  Waverlea Francesca was born to Daniel and Olivia just a week ago.  She is a little doll and I was so thrilled to go and spend a couple of days getting to know her. She already has me wrapped around her little finger.  The cutest part was witnessing Daniel in his new role as a father.  He is also the most attentive husband I have ever seen.  He makes Olivia rest and attends to her every need including preparing all the meals and cleaning up afterward.  Where was that behavior when he was a teenager?  Better late than never I guess.

Welcome Waverlea!

OH WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE SUMMERTIME?

Did you think I fell off the face of the earth?  I can't believe I have let so much time pass without writing a post for my blog.  I blame it on...

• the weather.  It has been absolutely amazing with sunshine and warm temperatures. Our Canadian winters are cold and long so I take full advantage of the summer.
• the grandkids. They have been visiting lots and we've been having tons of fun.
• parties.  I have hosted a couple and been to a couple.   I think/hope we're done for a while although I do have an Olympics party planned for the family at some point this summer.
• the flu.  I had the grandkids here when the first one got it. They went home the next day and one by one the entire family came down with it.  Ian got it a couple of weeks later and kindly passed it on to me.

There's been a change in the nighttime noises here.  The sound of crickets is drowning out the song of the frogs in the pond and it is a sure sign that we are heading into the second half of summer.  I feel like there is much still to do with the kids before September when both WIlliam and Maia head off to school and I won't get to see them as much.

I hope you're enjoying your summer as much as I am.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

I called my grandkids (the older ones) yesterday to ask them some questions about their dad and grandpa.  I caught them outside playing with their dad so only William was a willing participant.  Maia said hello and then went off to play.  Lilah kept me on the phone for ten minutes saying hello about every three minutes but then nothing else.

William is five and a half now and is becoming quite aware of the things going on around him so his answers were more informative and correct than cute and funny.  He did not totally disappoint.  He was right when he told me that daddy's favourite food was pizza and cheese and that grandpa's was spicy stuff but I did have to chuckle when he told me that daddy's favourite thing to do for himself was lie around. He gave the same answer for grandpa.  Quite frankly it is very rarely that I see either one of them do this.  He guessed his daddy's age within a year but was a little off on grandpa's putting him at 109 years old.  He thought I was 33.  I love that boy.

William told me that his dad's favourite thing to do with him is play games with him.  He went into great detail about the kind of games they would play and as he was relating his experiences I could feel the great love he had for his dad.  I'm proud of my son for being that kind of father to his children.

The final question I asked William was "If daddy could be anything in this world, what would he be?"

"Superman" was his reply. With all his Dad has on his plate right now he is a superman. He thought grandpa would be a fireman.  Considering grandpa can't light a fire without a half gallon of gasoline this might be a good job for him. 

So to all you dads out there, have a Happy Father's Day.  

INTRODUCING... & A SUNDAY SMILE

The waiting game is over.  Ammon Benjamin made his way into the world on his actual due date weighing a whopping nine pounds thirteen ounces.  He's a handsome little guy with lots of hair and is already a good sleeper at night.  We're all pretty proud of him.

Ammon 

I have a couple of funny stories to share in the next week or two when I'm not quite so busy with my Nona duties.  In the meantime enjoy this little Sunday Smile.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

The other day while visiting Matthew and Kere,  I was able to sneak in a few moments alone with William and Maia to plan a special Mother's Day treat for Kere.  They were so excited to answer a little questionnaire I had found on the internet and I had to stifle a chuckle or two at some of their answers.   I am sure you will too.

WILLIAM

My mom is 10 years old.
She weighs 20 pounds.
Her favourite colour is pink.
Her favourite food is pasta.
My mom always says "No."
She cooks the best scrambled eggs.
My mom's job is working upstairs.
She laughs when someone tells her something funny.
If my mom had time she would love to play games with me.
My mom and I like to clean up that's what we usually do all day.
She really loves chocolate.
I love my mom because she is nice.



MAIA

My mom is 5 years old.
She weighs 2 pounds.
Her favourite colour is purple.
Her favourite food is mushrooms.
My mom always says "clean up".
She cooks the best soup.
My mom's job is cleaning up.
She laughs when I climb in her bed.
If my mom had time she would love to work all the time.
My mom and I like to colour.
She really loves hugs and kisses.
I love my mom because she gives us play dough to play with.



William noticed that there was a list for grandma's so he wanted to answer those questions and of course Maia wanted in on the action too.

WILLIAM

My nona is 26 years old.
She weighs 13 pounds.
Her favourite colour is beige.
Her favourite food is pasta.
My nona always says "yes".
She cooks the best roast potatoes.
My nona's job is taking care of everything.
She laughs when people tell her jokes.
If my nona had time she would love to spend more time with us.
My nona and I like to do crafts.
She really loves hugs.
I love my nona because she does fun things with us.

MAIA

My nona is 26 years old.
She weighs 3 pounds.
Her favourite colour is purple.
Her favourite food is lasagna.
My nona always says "go downstairs to play."
She cooks the best buns and soup.
My nona's job is cooking.
She laughs when William dances funny.
If my nona had time she would love to play colouring.
She really loves hugs and kisses.
I love my nona because she plays fun games with us.






As you can see from their answers, both Kere and I are fulfilling our respective roles in a very stereotypical way.   As a mother, she always says "no" and as  grandmother I always say "yes".  Truer words were never spoken.  Well to be honest I do sometimes say "no" and Kere often says"yes".

I love that my grandkids think I am so young and skinny.  I knew there was a reason I loved them so much.  William's comment about cooking the best roast potatoes is pretty much true, I'll be making them tonight. I know exactly what you're thinking.....she has to cook on Mother's Day?  Well since we are having roast chicken and no one else in the house knows how to do that.... like WIlliam said, I take care of everything!

I am proud of my both my daughter and daughter-in-law.  They are wonderful mom's who take the time to play with their children, teach them right from wrong, and love them unconditionally.  I know that Olivia will be an excellent mom come September when her little one arrives and I have no question at all that Emily will be a loving, patient mom when the time comes.

Happy Mother's Day

THE CRYING GAME

Last week I received a phone call from Brittany.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Crying" I laughed.

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine, I just this moment finished watching a commercial on youtube."

"Oh....the Olympic one?"

"Yep"

"I cried at that too."

This past weekend when Olivia was here, she, Brittany, and Emily were sitting on the sofa together watching clips from Britain's Got Talent.  I was sitting on the love seat opposite them and suggested that Brittany show them the Olympic commercial.  I started to giggle a bit when I saw tears fill Brittany's eyes and then Olivia's but before I knew it, tears were filling mine too and I wasn't even watching it.  Emily played it cool.  Brittany and Olivia are both pregnant so they have an excuse.  Me?..ummm...it's allergy season?

SAY WHAT?

I was in  Fabricland today (they know me on a first name basis there) with two of my daughters-in-law. As Emily and I stood at the cutting table the lady serving us asked if Emily was the daughter-in-law with the baby.  I told her no that Kere was.  Just at that moment Kere joined us with her material and Emily pointed out that Kere had four kids.  The lady was astounded and asked if she was crazy.  Emily told her that she herself came from a family of twelve kids.

"But that's because her mom's partly deaf" I added.

"Oh" laughed the lady "so the noise didn't bother her then?"

"I guess not but that's not what I meant."  I replied "She had twelve kids because she was partly deaf."

There was a look of confusion so I explained...

Every night when she went to bed her husband would ask "Do you want to go to sleep or you know what?" and she would reply "What?"

I can be funny like that.

Just for the record, Emily's mother does not suffer from any form of deafness.

GENDER CONFUSION

I love how curious and candid little kids are.  The things that come out of their mouths sometimes cracks me up.

 One of my boys watching me change his little sister one morning asked.
"Mommy when will she grow her pee pee?"

 I thought that I had explained the difference between boys and girls pretty plainly but obviously not.  Cute but at least not embarrassing, unlike what happened to some friends of mine.  They were visiting some family with their two boys and while there another family member changed her baby girl in front of the two boys.  They watched intently.

 The four year old boy asked. "Where's her pee pee?"

"Oh she's a girl" said the girl's mother "She doesn't have one."

"I have a pee pee" he replied, then added "my brother has a pee pee, Daddy has a pee pee too, but mommy, she just has hair!"

Awkward.

Christmas Recap

The company is gone, the decorations are put away, and life has slowly returned to normal (as normal as it gets anyway), even all the Christmas treats are gone (trust me I've completed a desperate room to room search for any stray shortbread or half eaten bar of chocolate).  Depression.
 Because we were away for a month just before Christmas, I felt ill prepared for the big event and some of our usual traditions went by the wayside to hopefully be resurrected next year...maybe.

We did manage to fit in most of our usual traditions like....

making snowflake cookies and....

enacting the story of the first Christmas and ...

singing Christmas carols.

This year I didn't get a chance to get together some Christmas pajamas so we weren't able to get our annual Christmas morning pajama photo like last year's.

I tried to tell my family that we really didn't need to have matching pajamas to get a Christmas picture,we could just improvise.

They wouldn't go for it.  Maybe next year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL

This picture was drawn by Daniel when he was about six years old.  I saved it and framed it not because I thought he would one day become a great artist (that is clearly not his talent), it was the text that struck me, "I never feel little.  I always feel big."  (spelling corrected)

I have never known a child to be so self assured at such a young age.  He exuded confidence from the time he was very little.   I remember going to a school fair shortly after he had first started school and as we walked around the school participating in activities,  kids from kindergarten to grade eight would call out to him to say hello.  I was astounded.  How did he know that many kids already?

Since he has been in New Zealand I have missed...

• his pacing the floor while intense sporting events played out on the TV. Watching sports is just not the same without him.
• his yelling at the refs or players in said sporting events.  Seriously, he would wake me out of a sound sleep sometimes.
• his brutal honesty.  If I asked his opinion on something he would give it to me straight up even if it might hurt my feelings. 
• his ever present smile.
• his goodnatured joking.
• his high pitched, girly, laugh (he adopted that in Fiji and it hasn't left).
• his generosity.  If I didn't have an opinion on something he was always willing to give me his.

Happy Birthday Daniel!   I love you.

THANKSGIVING 2011

This past weekend we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving as well as Ava's first birthday.   Here are some of the highlights.


I made Avocado Shakes for the second time in two days.  So very, very, yummy!

I made this little cake for Ava (easy to do but a little time consuming).

Here she is enjoying it.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so summer like and yet we were into the second week of October. Lilah is in just her diaper here.  Maybe there is actually something to this global warming thing.

We had a little glitch over the weekend when we discovered that the sink was clogged just as we were about to do all the dishes from our big Thanksgiving dinner.  Ben figured he could clear it with the plunger so before he did,  I tied a tea towel around a pipe that has been known to leak slightly while being plunged. 

While Ben plunged the one side of the double sink, I held the plug down in the other.  We both felt our feet getting wet at the same time and looked down to see water running out onto the floor.  There was a panicked call for towels....

and a quick race downstairs to see if it was seeping through the floor onto the ceiling below...

...It was.

Long story short

• the whole drain is broken.
• we had to dishes in the laundry tub.
• we are still waiting for a plumber.
• I own about fifty towels.
• most were used to clean up the mess.
• I now know how fat my butt is (I need to lay off the Avocado Shakes).

After all the excitement, we went outside , sat around the fire, watched the moon come up and enjoyed some of these.

All in all, it was a nearly perfect weekend.   We just missed Daniel, Olivia, and Adam.